October 06, 2011

Religion-in-the-Foxhole Division: God in Shelters, London 1940

JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post

On looking at the bombing of Britain from the German side--an article in the popular Illustrirte Zeitung for 5 September 1940 with maps and illustrations, found here.

AS people took cover from bombs and fire in the subway system or in bomb shelters, proselytizers were on their way to work, too, as seen in this slip of a handout, Have You s Shelter?, published around February 1940. It seems that the maker and distributor of this tiny pamphlet didn't identify themselves save for an address from which more copies of the flyer could be obtained (61 Upton Lane, Forest Gate, London)

People weren't quite yet getting into the shelters for real--this was still the pre-Blitz period, back there in February 1940, and the real attack against England (but particularly against London) didn't begin until September and last through May 1941, which in its course would kill 40,000 civilians (half of whom were in London) and destroy a million homes. In February it was still speculation, and the church folk who distributed this flyer were out to make the best of it--trying to save souls, trying to ease the nervous burden through belief, trying to do something, anything. Though mostly it seems trying to convince people that it wasn't just German dive bombers that they needed to fear.